What's Your "Return on Involvement?"

 

After reading  an article entitled 12 Buzzwords You'll Hear in 2013  I started thinking that we don't need more of these crazy words.

For instance: Alphanista -- "Successful women in powerful positions having it all."

One new "buzzword," however, makes a lot of sense, and is worth thinking about. That's "Return on Involvement." (I know, that's not a word, it's a phrase, but anyway…)

According to David Mielach, a staff writer for BusinessNewsDaily, "A brand that gets involved with their community will garner better return on their investment by getting involved hosting fundraisers, partnering with schools and giving the local residents a gathering spot."

But of course you can put your own spin on it.

When I was a broker I'll admit to having gone a bit overboard. One of my agents and I started the local animal rescue group and worked "hands-on" at rescuing dogs for several years.

And because I was not happy that our town did nothing for the 4th of July, I joined the Chamber of Commerce and got their (limited) support to bring back fireworks on the 4th. (Had groups already been formed I could have just become a volunteer, but sometimes you have to start something yourself in order to make it happen.)

Then I got involved with raising money for the Senior Center and the Food Bank, and did promotions such as buying 2 bins of pumpkins and giving them away for Halloween.

There were times when I was so involved with community affairs that I'm not sure how I made time for clients, but it was OK because I was promoting my agency and my agents benefited from our name being in the local news with regularity.

Could I measure the return on involvement? No, I couldn't. I knew that it brought us more clients, but could never isolate one activity and say "This brought in X new listings or X new buyer clients."

Much of our success was due to other marketing efforts as well as to referrals and repeat clients. Then, as now, exposure was cumulative - with all the things we did working together to make us stand out from the competition.

Did I do it just to promote business? No, not at all. I had selfish reasons and did those things because I cared about the issues. Once I became aware of the problem, I couldn't stand the thought of dogs being abandoned or put to death because homeowners were moving and didn't want to bother with taking them along. 

(Yes, this happened. And the agent who stood to earn a commission cheered when their sale fell through. She thought they deserved it.)

And as for the fireworks - That project was for me as much as for the community. I remembered the fireworks from when I was a kid and wanted them back.

So - involvement has two rewards. One is financial, because community exposure does help your business grow. The other is emotional, because doing something that matters makes you feel good.

You don't need to go as overboard as I did in order to feel good and get results. You can do as David Mielach suggests and get involved with fundraisers. You can volunteer at a food bank or a soup kitchen once a week - or once a month. You can help coach your child's sports team, or go door to door to collect "Coats for kids" or used blankets and towels for the local animal rescue. You can volunteer to speak at your high school's career day. You can read to the children at your library's story hour once a week - or once a month.

You can also get involved in your neighborhood. You can attend community meetings and speak up; you can take part in community-wide yard sales; you can host/hostess a party for any holiday of the year. If you're skilled with a computer, you can set up the neighborhood information network. Any and all of those things will give you more exposure while letting people know that you're a person who cares - not just someone who wants their business.

The bottom line is that I have no idea how you can measure the financial return on involvement, but measuring the emotional ROI is easy.

If it makes you feel good, it's working!

 

 

marte@copybymarte.com

Priest River, Idaho
208-448-1479

 

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